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English language patriots who pore over POTUS tweets are in pure heaven this morning as President Trump’s poor excuses for his abuse of the English language continue to pour gas on a California-size wildfire.

Tuesday afternoon, as reported by Politico, President Trump took to his Twitter account to tweet a defense of his intentional capitalization of common nouns. As reported by Politico, President Trump tweeted, “After having written many best selling books, and somewhat priding myself on my ability to write, it should be noted that the Fake News constantly likes to pour over my tweets looking for a mistake. I capitalize certain words only for emphasis, not b/c they should be capitalized!”

Poor Spelling

It seems that a number of recent articles analyzing his arbitrary capitalization may have penetrated the president’s notoriously thin skin, such as the May 28 Chicago Tribunearticle by Alan Levinovitz.

However, grammarians largely ignored Trump’s defense of his capitalization “for emphasis” and focused on two other errors.

Tweeters pointed out that President Trump should have tweeted, “pore over,” which means 1. “to read or study with steady attention or application; 2. to gaze earnestly or steadily; or 3. to meditate or ponder intently (usually followed by over, on, or upon), rather than his use of “pour over,” which means to “to send (a liquid, fluid, or anything in loose particles) flowing or falling, as from one container to another, or into, over, or on something” (dictionary.com).

Additionally, English teachers chimed in about the misspelling of the compound word, bestselling. President Trump tweeted “best selling,” instead. President Trump frequently misuses hyphens, as in his takedown (not take-down) of Meryl Streep’s comments at the 2017 Golden Globes. President Trump tweeted, “over-rated,” instead of the correct overrated to describe Streeps’ acting skills.

Additional tweets continue to pour in, including 3 tweets from “Harry Potter” author and frequent Trump-critic, J.K. Rowling. According to Time, Rowling tweeted, “ha” 501 times in 3 successive tweets, commenting in one of them that “someone told him how to spell ‘pore.’” In another tweet, the author sarcastically referred to President Trump as the “Gratest Writer on earth,”

An hour later, the pour had been corrected to pore; however, the compound word, bestselling, remained as best selling.

Interesting to note: Microsoft Word’s spell checker highlights the error, best selling, but the program’s grammar and usage checker does not suggest a correction for the misuse of the word pour.

My take? Both “pour” and “best selling” mistakes are not high stakes spelling and usage errors. However, other mis-tweets certainly have included more egregious errors, such as President Trump’s confusion of there and their, counsel and council, unpresidented and unprecedented, to name but a few.

Like it or not, President Trump is our president and, as such, is a role model, especially for our students. I’m an English teacher; I care about our language, and I care about serving as an effective role model for my students, parents, and other teachers in not only what I do, but also in what I say. Anyone can make a mistake, but before using a public platform, we all have a certain level of responsibility to curb our enthusiasm and impulsiveness; to take a few extra seconds to think before we send; and to proofread what we are about to publish. I think most Democrats and Republicans would agree.

I’m also an amateur songwriter. In my recently released YouTube song and video, “Word Crimes (Revisited,” (a spin-off of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s hilarious 2015 “Word Crimes,” found on his Mandatory Funalbum), I go after both President Trump and his English teachers for his

WORD CRIMES

“Word Crimes (Revisited)”

against the English language.

WORD CRIMES

He causes so much anguish;

WORD CRIMES

High crimes and misdemeanors;

WORD CRIMES

Can’t he get a Twitter screener?

WORD CRIMES

His teachers couldn’t teach him;

WORD CRIMES

I think we should impeach him.

Yes, WORD CRIMES [sic] is intentionally capitalized.

Check out my “Word Crimes (Revisited)” song and YouTube video: Lyrics HERE and video HERE. It’s good fun, but has a bit of a message, as well.

Our POTUS needs to act like the role model that his office demands. We all do. As an English teacher, I am a role model for our language. Yes, I proofread this article before I published it. My song continues,

Teachers, popstars, parents, politicians:

We’re all role models‒kids are watchin’ and they’re listenin’.

The only dumb mistake is one that is repeated

So, keep that in mind before you say it or you tweet it.

Good advice, if I do say so myself. And now, allow me to put on my teacher-publisher hat and provide my readers with a bit of crass commercialism to sell my grammar, mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary programs. White House staffers receive a 10% discount by entering code 3716 at check-out.

Teaching Grammar and Mechanics includes 56 (64 for high school) interactive language conventions lessons, designed for twice-per-week direct instruction in the grade-level grammar, usage, and mechanics standards. The scripted lessons (perfect for the grammatically-challenged teacher) are formatted for classroom display. Standards review, definitions and examples, practice and error analysis, simple sentence diagrams, mentor texts with writing applications, and formative assessments are woven into every 25-minute lesson. The program also includes the Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessments with corresponding worksheets to help students catch up, while they keep up with grade-level, standards-aligned instruction.